By new GIS I did not mean an offshoot like neogeography. I meant the application of the technology in new industries and use by non-GIS users. This has far reaching implications. Demanding potentially a quite different approach. I received some fascinating feedback by experts in the GIS community on the original post. To each responder I asked whether they would mind my sharing their thoughts with the wider community in this follow up article. Below are some of these responses:

“For its first 25 years or so GIS was in the construction business. It was building homes for applications, tools for businesses, and markets for services. When GIS grew up it became Geospatial Science ready to take on the world with all its new understanding, applications and world wide data resources. Geospatial science has far superseded its adolescence and is now headlong into maturity competing in the information business.”

I’m just back from presenting at the GeCo in the Rockies Conference. My first time in Grand Junction. A sleepy town surrounded by amazing scenery, with the beautiful Colorado River on its doorstep. For me, this felt like a conference of contrast. Traditional meets new. Its fascinating to watch how the GIS industry is changing. This was the first time I fully realised that we are in the midst of a split. Hard core GIS professionals continue to ply their trade. Locked up in modelling, developing and using apps with the traditional GIS look, feel and workflows. New GIS is charting a new and different course.